Chapter 863: Thoughts on All Living Beings

Amidst the instantly bursting stream of light, one streak—neither thick nor thin, perfectly centered—flew toward the north. The figure within the stream of light was a man in his thirties, his features possessing a hint of heroic spirit but ultimately falling short of being handsome; his temperament had no other special qualities, an image stuck at the threshold slightly above that of an ordinary person.

His speed was the same as everyone else's, neither faster nor slower, maintaining an absolutely swift, relatively average pace until he was far from the explosion site, nearly out of the borders of Yunzhou, and only upon reaching the territory of Liangzhou did he suddenly accelerate, becoming almost as fast as a shadow.

Yet at this moment—

"Dazai, what a cunning scheme. When an ordinary person creates an avatar to flee, they either choose a look completely opposite to their original self to avoid association, or they choose something similar in some aspect to facilitate disguise. You alone have taken a different path, choosing an image that is neither completely dissimilar to yourself nor using extreme opposite elements; the age, gender, and appearance are somewhat similar yet partially shifted, counter-intuitively making it completely impossible for anyone to guess."

"Especially since you are ruthless enough. The Crown Prince of your Guikou Imperial Court escaped from the collapsed palace; he could be considered a lone seedling, could he not? I imagine your Emperor sent him out with the intention of entrusting him to you while you were outside. As it turns out, not only did you ignore him, but you also used him as bait, creating a fake body to 'save' him, clearly using him as a shield to attract firepower so you could take the opportunity to slip away. Your Emperor is truly blind to have regarded you as a loyal subject and filial son, failing to see that you are a wolf-hearted, dog-lunged thing. It seems the fortune of your Guikou is exhausted."

As the voice traveled from afar to near, a figure appeared in the air. The youth stood in the night sky, his whole body as dazzling as the stars, a pair of lacquer-black eyes staring at Dazai.

Dazai had a look of dejection for an instant, clearly having been poked in a sore spot, but he had now completely calmed down. Even though he had fled like a routed soldier, the poise cultivated over many years was always there; he was not yet hysterical enough to throw a tantrum in front of a junior opponent. He said indifferently, "A loyal subject and filial son? Loyal subjects and filial sons are too easy to die. The Great Wei has been gone for so many years; how many loyal subjects have already died? My Emperor is clear-headed enough; he does not have so many unrealistic delusions. As for you—according to your classification, it should be 'Your Highness'—must you be so aggressive? Have you not heard that one should not press a cornered enemy?"

Tang Zhao shook his head and said, "I have not heard of it. I have only heard: 'One should use remaining strength to pursue the fleeing enemy, not seek fame by imitating the Hegemon.' A scourge like you will harm people wherever you run, and I personally dislike you very much. For public or private reasons, I will never let you go."

Dazai was furious and shouted, "Do you think I am truly afraid of you? It is merely that there are some techniques I am unwilling to use, as they harm the harmony of heaven. Do not be ungrateful for the face I have given you. If you pursue relentlessly, we shall see whether the fish dies or the net breaks." He let out a loud shout, his complexion becoming full once more, showing a tendency toward becoming a god or Buddha. Only this time, it was not that he had phantom images of all living beings behind him, but rather he reached out his hands, holding countless phantoms within them. His palms became similar to a lotus pedestal, his fingers white and tender, like individual lotus petals.

In his hands, strands of white, misty power were condensing. Unlike the rigid power from before, this time the power was softer, flowing slowly like viscous liquid, but its quality was clearly extraordinary. It could be said that the solemnity of the god or Buddha on him just now was only faintly lingering on the surface, but when that soft white Qi formed, that higher level of majesty and solemnity became completely materialized, adding the holiness and compassion unique to a god. He was the deity who held up all living beings with mercy!

Tang Zhao looked at him with interest and said, "This solemn feeling of yours... it seems familiar? It doesn't look much like the feeling of a god who has transcended the world; it's a bit like the pressure of an emperor... Did you steal it from that Taiji Dian of your Emperor?"

Dazai was shocked and angry, but situated in his current position, that kind of pressure had already permeated him from the inside out. Even if he was startled, he would not be overcome by great joy or anger; he just said indifferently, "Ignorant child, what do you understand?" As he spoke, he reached out a hand, and the white Qi in his hand rolled over.

That white Qi was merely wisps on his hand, but as it flew out, it was already like a great river, pouring down toward the top of Tang Zhao's head. That pressure, which shocked all living beings, was like the sky collapsing!

Tang Zhao was not affected in the slightest. He just watched the white Qi descend, his body shining with sunlight, clearly demarcated from the white Qi, and said with a smile, "I guessed right, didn't I? A person like you doesn't even care about your own sovereign, so how could you cherish all living beings? You don't even have a shred of small kindness or righteousness, so how could you have great mercy and compassion? So, I don't know which nerve you misfired to choose to walk the Zhongshang Dao. If you were in our Sword Guest lineage, with a sword to help you hold the direction, you would never have been allowed to act so recklessly."

"With all living beings in mind!" Dazai roared.

At this moment, the white Qi filling the sky gathered together, turning into a rope that lashed toward Tang Zhao. This rope did not enter the sunlight to bind Tang Zhao's true body within the light, but rather circled very loosely around Tang Zhao and the sunlight, just like a sash on Tang Zhao.

However, Tang Zhao raised his eyebrows slightly. He discovered that his power was leaving his body and gathering into that streak of white Qi. Although the speed of Absorption was not fast, it was very stable, and it was impartial—all power, including Sword Essence, physical strength, Spirit, and even more ethereal willpower, was mixing into the white Qi.

And those figures held by Dazai lowered slightly, as if kowtowing, while cheering at the same time. The more they kowtowed and cheered, the faster the power leaked out. And as it leaked, Tang Zhao had a feeling of sinking into mud, finding it difficult to move.

"So that's it, 'with all living beings in mind'... is it asking me to keep all living beings in mind? I give power to the living beings, and then the living beings transfer it to you. I have to say, your ability is quite humorous." Tang Zhao couldn't help but smile. He suddenly withdrew the sunlight. Once the sunlight dispersed, the white Qi rope lost its resistance and immediately tightened inward. However, in one of Tang Zhao's hands, there was a patch of Luse. The Luse burst forth in an instant, growing out over ten zhang like a vine, tangling head-to-head with the white Qi.

This time, it was Dazai's turn to change color. He clearly felt that his own power was also leaking out, and it was leaking very rapidly. Of course, his ability of 'with all living beings in mind' was also taking effect; now both sides were absorbing each other.

Just when Dazai thought he was going to compete with Tang Zhao in the speed of Absorption, he saw the Luse entangled on the white light begin to proliferate, clinging to the white light like a green snake. In the blink of an eye, the white was dyed Luse. In just a moment, the white rope had turned into a Luse rope, becoming an extension of that mass of Luse vines.

And... it had turned back to entangle Dazai.

Dazai was greatly alarmed and immediately cut off the connection with the white Qi of all living beings, then jumped backward. It could be considered decisive of him to whip the Luse vine in the air, striking the place where he had originally stood, but Dazai had long since run far away.

Dazai escaped a disaster, still shaken, and shouted, "Despicable! You were using sunlight as a cover; you are also using that set of absorbing human Qi. You are also walking a crooked path, yet you have the gall to clamor!"

Tang Zhao smiled slightly and said, "Does it look like you?"

Dazai was slightly speechless, then sneered, "It certainly looks like it, but you are even more sinister! And you shout even louder, as if you were a righteous gentleman!"

Tang Zhao smiled and said, "Do you know where this partner of mine comes from? It was originally an evil god from the Tianmo Jie. That's right, even in the Tianmo Jie, it was an evil god, the most evil of the evil. Yet it shares your view. A fellow like you, who has neither the great righteousness for the country and the people nor the great mercy for the suffering of all living beings, actually wants to walk the Zhongshang Dao—it is simply humorous. Therefore, you cannot master this power well. Before, when your realm was low, you could still copy the great principles by reading books and then draw a tiger by imitating a cat. Once you reached the realm of an immortal, requiring the things in your bones to extend outward, you became clumsy and helpless. I suspect this is also the reason why you have been unable to step into a higher realm for many years. But you eventually bypassed these difficulties by adopting a method of piecing things together and changing your appearance. You plagiarized the majesty of the Guikou Emperor as divine power, packaged your own dirty, forcibly seized gains as the will of the people, and then used the method of squeezing the people's strength that you are familiar with to obtain power, finally getting this 'neither fish nor fowl' result. Are you still proud of yourself?"

Tang Zhao sighed and said, "I am disappointed. You are the one who has walked the furthest on your Spirit Official Human Dao; I wanted to see what kind of different, wonderful scenery there was on this path. As a result... just this? Just this?"

Dazai had already been stung by his words, and at the end, Tang Zhao's continuous rhetorical questions finally broke his defenses. He roared, "Shut up! What qualifications do you have to righteously accuse me? I am on an evil path, but can't you only use evil means to deal with me? Isn't that Luse thing the most evil? Your own ability is not worth mentioning; you can only cling to an evil path to luckily gain the upper hand, and now you come to shamelessly accuse me?"

Tang Zhao laughed, "That evil god is not my ability. As for my own ability... do you want to experience my Sword Momentum?"

Dazai suddenly became speechless. He began to feel some terror, suddenly realizing that after fighting with Tang Zhao for so long, he had not yet seen Tang Zhao's Sword Momentum!

One must know that the most obvious difference between a Sword Immortal and a Sword Hero is the Sword Momentum. With Sword Momentum, a Sword Immortal can transform the surrounding environment into their own shape, making it easier to defeat or even manipulate the enemy; this is the hallmark of a Sword Immortal's battle. But just now, Tang Zhao did not release his Sword Momentum; that sunlight was just a Sword Image as before, without opening the Sword Momentum belonging to a Sword Immortal.

In other words, Dazai had not seen Tang Zhao's true strength at all!

The gap was too far...

At this instant, Dazai suddenly had a "collapse of Dao heart." Once he lost his self-confidence, he didn't even have the courage to fight.

Tang Zhao suddenly grinned and said, "I was lying to you. How could I use Sword Momentum? You aren't worthy yet. I can solve you easily; look—the sun is setting!"